Chapter 546: Chapter 546
Unhwi did not depart for Beggars’ Sect immediately.
He had only made the declaration.
It took three days for that declaration to spread.
The Sichuan Alliance’s intelligence network was denser than expected. The network Kang Cheonwoo had built while he was alive had contacts throughout the Central Plains, beyond the region of Sichuan itself. Unhwi used it as it was.
The contents were simple.
Acting Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance, Unhwi.
He would demand an accounting of crimes from Zhengshan, the Leader of Beggars’ Sect.
Personally.
That was all.
There was no unnecessary detail.
No reason.
No threat.
It was simply a declaration.
That simplicity made it heavier.
People were simpler than expected.
A person who explained reasons at length usually had the intention of persuading.
But someone who had no need to persuade did not attach reasons.
That was all there was.
The rumor spread.
At first, it was throughout Sichuan.
Then the southern part of the Central Plains.
And soon it spread all the way to where the Murim Alliance was located.
The reaction of the martial world was immediate.
The story was discussed in inns.
It was discussed in marketplaces.
Wherever martial artists gathered, the same story appeared.
The Blood Heaven Arbiter of Blood Heaven Sect, while serving as acting Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance, had declared that he would demand an accounting of crimes from the Leader of Beggars’ Sect.
Directly.
The reactions were divided.
People said he was insane.
They asked whether it made any sense to walk alone toward Beggars’ Sect, the organization of the entire martial world.
Others said that finally, someone was pointing a blade at Beggars’ Sect.
There were not no people who knew that Beggars’ Sect had used the name of the martial world to enrich itself after the Thousand-Year Chaos.
Besides, had Unhwi and Beggars’ Sect not already been tied together by a bitter relationship?
The martial world was noisy.
There was no way Zhengshan did not know that the martial world was becoming noisy.
Beggars’ Sect headquarters.
Zhengshan received the news on the second day after the declaration began spreading.
Even after the subordinate who delivered the message finished speaking, Zhengshan remained silent for a long time.
He looked out the window.
The sky was clear.
It was weather that did not suit the situation.
“Unhwi.”
Zhengshan muttered.
His voice was low.
A voice without emotion.
However, the way he spoke that name was different.
It was as if he chewed it before spitting it out.
He remembered the day they met at Bright Moon Hall.
When he saw Unhwi there, Zhengshan knew.
This man would become a problem someday.
So he had to be killed.
That judgment had not changed even now.
If anything had changed, it was that the man had moved first.
Zhengshan looked at his subordinate and spoke.
“How many routes between Blood Heaven Sect and the Sichuan Alliance do we control?”
“Three.”
“Block them.”
“Yes.”
“And.”
Zhengshan said.
“Spread rumors.”
The subordinate raised his head.
“What kind of rumors should we spread……”
Zhengshan turned his gaze back outside.
“Blood Heaven Sect has swallowed the Sichuan Alliance. It wears the name of acting Alliance Leader, but in truth, it has become a subordinate of Blood Heaven Sect. The martial artists of Sichuan are suffering beneath the tyranny of Blood Heaven Sect.”
“……If we spread it like that, the interior of the Sichuan Alliance will……”
“It will shake.”
Zhengshan spoke calmly.
“And externally, the Sichuan Alliance will be seen as a puppet of Blood Heaven Sect. Unhwi has made his declaration, so I only need to shake public opinion. I must create the image that it is not Unhwi pointing a blade at Beggars’ Sect, but Blood Heaven Sect attempting to swallow the entire martial world.”
The subordinate nodded.
“And.”
Zhengshan added.
“Establish the justification that Beggars’ Sect, the sole survivor of the Nine Sects and One Alliance, is standing against the tyranny of Blood Heaven Sect to protect the martial world.”
The subordinate flinched.
The true intention behind these rumors was obvious.
Just as Gun Mugeol had used the name of the Murim Alliance to portray himself as a hero opposing Blood Heaven Sect, Zhengshan intended to do the same.
Back then, their intentions had aligned, so Zhengshan had moved first.
Gun Mugeol would move again this time as well.
No.
The probability was high.
A great storm was approaching.
The subordinate withdrew.
Left alone, Zhengshan walked through the garden and thought.
The man called Unhwi.
He had said he would come personally.
Alone.
To Beggars’ Sect headquarters.
Zhengshan knew that was not a bluff.
That man was not someone who made empty threats.
He knew from the moment their eyes met at Bright Moon Hall.
And everything that man had done since had proven it.
He would come.
He really would come alone.
Zhengshan closed his eyes.
He had to meet him.
At Beggars’ Sect headquarters.
With all of Beggars’ Sect’s martial artists standing behind him.
He had to end Unhwi here.
Even Gun Mugeol, who had defeated Kang Cheonwoo by half an inch, had not directly confronted Unhwi.
But Zhengshan was different.
He could not allow that man to come this far.
No.
Even if he allowed him to come here, he could not allow things to proceed according to Unhwi’s purpose.
As the organization that handled information, Zhengshan knew better than anyone what Heavenly Wayfarer of Blood Heaven Sect was like.
Because he knew.
He had to respond.
By any means necessary, he had to cause damage to Unhwi as well.
Zhengshan turned his head.
Like a man who had made a decision.
***
The rumors did not even take three days to spread.
Beggars’ Sect’s intelligence network was among the most renowned in the martial world.
Wherever beggars moved, it reached.
Marketplaces.
Inns.
Official roads.
Ports.
Rumors flowed like water.
Blood Heaven Sect had swallowed the Sichuan Alliance.
The martial artists of Sichuan were beneath Blood Heaven Sect’s control.
The Blood Heaven Arbiter was calling himself the acting Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance while committing tyranny.
After Unhwi became acting Alliance Leader of the Sichuan Alliance, the first thing he did was kill an Elder of the Alliance and destroy Azure Dragon Sect and Iron Mountain Sect, the two strongest forces in Sichuan.
Why had he done that?
It was preparation for Blood Heaven Sect to rule Sichuan.
He killed them because they were the most troublesome and because they were the strongest.
These rumors surprisingly had a foundation, and they spread everywhere as facts disguised as rumors.
The core was simple.
Beggars’ Sect was trying to protect the martial world against that tyranny.
It was clever.
It did not directly contradict Unhwi’s declaration.
It transformed the declaration itself into Blood Heaven Sect’s domination.
It made it appear that Zhengshan was not avoiding Unhwi out of fear, but fighting for the sake of the entire martial world.
Changes also appeared within the Sichuan Alliance.
At first, they were small.
Words exchanged among disciples.
At meals.
After training.
While standing watch at night.
They spread quietly.
But things that spread quietly sank deeper.
Large rumors could be refuted.
Rumors that quietly seeped in were difficult to refute.
Once they settled into people’s hearts, any rebuttal that came afterward only strengthened the rumor.
Martial artists whispered.
Experienced martial artists kept silent.
Those with experience knew.
Sometimes allowing a rumor to spread caused it to disappear faster than trying to stop it.
But young disciples were different.
Those who had not yet learned the ways of the world through their own bodies were shaken.
Had the Sichuan Alliance really become a subordinate of Blood Heaven Sect?
Was this what happened after Alliance Leader Kang died?
Even without speaking, their eyes said it.
The subordinate sects also began moving.
No one openly stepped forward after seeing the fate of Azure Dragon Sect and Iron Mountain Sect.
There was no one who did not know how those two sects had ended.
Liu Zhenheng came to find Unhwi when the rumors had fully spread throughout both the Sichuan Alliance and the martial world.
With a complicated expression, he spoke immediately.
“Young master, the rumors……”
“I know.”
Liu Zhenheng blinked.
“I expected it.”
“Ah……”
“Zhengshan is someone who handles information. He will not confront this directly. He will shake public opinion. That is his method.”
Liu Zhenheng sat before Unhwi.
“The Sichuan Alliance…… is more shaken than before.”
“It would be.”
“Some of the Elders may move again.”
“Let them.”
Liu Zhenheng looked at Unhwi.
Unhwi continued.
“Let them. We only need to see who moves.”
“……See?”
“There is a difference between someone who is shaken and someone who moves backward because they are shaken. Being shaken is natural. They are human. But if someone uses that uncertainty to move behind the scenes, that is a different matter.”
Liu Zhenheng nodded without thinking.
Then he suddenly realized.
Unhwi had strangely not departed for Beggars’ Sect even after making the declaration.
Why?
And he had calmly accepted the rumors Beggars’ Sect had thrown back.
No.
He had been looking beyond them.
This had not been an idea formed on the spot.
Then.
“……You were waiting?”
Unhwi nodded.
Then he slowly rose.
“Now that the board has been arranged, I will move.”
He walked slowly.
Liu Zhenheng silently watched Unhwi’s back.
A feeling simply came to him.
I would never want to make this man an enemy.
***
Ju Soa caught up with Unhwi immediately after he left the Sichuan Alliance’s main gate.
She did not run.
She walked quickly.
She came to stand beside him.
Unhwi did not stop.
Ju Soa did not stop either.
The two walked side by side.
The gates of the Sichuan Alliance moved farther behind them.
“You are leaving without saying anything?”
Her tone was not a question.
It was confirmation.
“I am going alone.”
“No.”
Unhwi looked at Ju Soa.
Ju Soa looked ahead as she walked.
Even while feeling his gaze, she did not turn her head.
Her expression was calm.
It was the face of someone with no intention of being persuaded by words.
Unhwi knew that when someone made that expression, words would not persuade them.
Using force to persuade her would also be ridiculous.
He said nothing more.
That was permission.
The two walked along the road of Sichuan.
There were no words.
Only footsteps.
The earth of Sichuan sounded beneath their feet.
After leaving the Sichuan Alliance, the road widened.
It was an official road.
A major road crossing Sichuan.
Following this road would lead out of Sichuan and toward the southern Central Plains.
Beggars’ Sect headquarters was there.
A place unknown to no one in the martial world.
It was not difficult to find.
What was difficult was going there.
People traveled along the road.
Merchants.
Carriages carrying cargo passed.
There were also wandering martial artists walking.
They looked at Unhwi and Ju Soa.
They carried no weapons.
They were simply walking.
Yet people looked.
There was something.
Something about them.
It was difficult to explain exactly.
It could not be called energy, because it was concealed.
It could not be called pressure, because it was not displayed.
There was simply something about those two that made people look.
Even after passing them, people turned around.
Unhwi did not care.
He only spoke briefly.
“He moved ahead of us.”
“Who?”
“Zhengshan.”
“……You mean those people just now, right?”
Unhwi nodded.
“Should I go and clean them up?”
Ju Soa said it while tapping her sword hilt.
Unhwi looked at her and gave a faint laugh.
“No. They are only people trying to determine our location. Leave them.”
Tsk.
Ju Soa lightly clicked her tongue and asked while walking.
“Are you really going to keep walking? If we ride horses, we can arrive within ten days.”
Walking would take at least half a month.
It was a reasonable question.
But Unhwi’s answer was firm.
“We walk.”
“……There must be a reason.”
Unhwi looked ahead and spoke.
“Did you not just see?”
“……See what?”
“Zhengshan will prepare. Those people who just passed us will report our location, and what Zhengshan has prepared will appear before us.”
“……So you are saying we will walk into a trap even knowing it is there?”
“Something like that.”
“……This is insane.”